Hundreds of tho us ands of people have taken to the streets across Venezuela in protest against the Maduro's government, demanding elections, freedom for jailed activists, foreign aid and autonomy for the opposition-led legislature.

She said in a statement ahead of Wednesday's closed-door meeting that Venezuela is "on the verge of humanitarian crisis", with medicine unavailable, hospitals lacking supplies and people facing difficulty finding food.

Voters in Iran go to the polls to pick presidentRaisi has tried to gain support by promising more financial support to the working class and to triple cash handouts to the poor. CNN journalists in Tehran reported seeing long lines as voters apparently heeded calls for a big turnout.

"In the recent past they had discussions about the two countries and the president [gave] the reasons why things are happening in Venezuela and the Honourable Freundel Stuart heard what he was saying", Perez said. How is that possible? Among them were a number of cases in which members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) beat the prisoners severely using aluminum bats and individuals who said they had their hair cut off.

Ortega Diaz broke with the government shortly after the Supreme Court's controversial ruling in March, calling it a "rupture" of the constitutional order. One was the approval of Maduro's budget and his appointment of two government sympathizers to the National Electoral Council, decisions that are supposed to require National Assembly approval.

Moreno, while not directly involved in those decisions, has defended them and from the bench also upheld a almost 14-year sentence for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez a day after Trump called for his release at a White House meeting with Lopez's wife.

President Nicolas Maduro in turn blames sabotage by the "bourgeois" opposition, which he says is backed by Washington.

With the latest sanctions, the United States government said the court members were being targeted because they had "usurped the authority of Venezuela's democratically elected legislature".

The new sanctions package was aimed at stepping up pressure on supporters of President Nicolas Maduro amid growing worldwide concern over a crackdown on mass street protests.

Police have fired tear gas and protesters have hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails in near-daily clashes.

Fifteen-year-old Jose Guerrero died in San Cristobal on Wednesday after going out the previous afternoon to purchase flour and being shot near a protest, authorities said.